Fwd: ALERT: Stop Forced Outpatient Psych. Drugs - International Action

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Fri, 7 Nov 2003 12:11:54 -0800

" Resist Forced Psychiatric Drugging! "

" Oaks - www.MindFreedom.org "

ALERT: Stop Forced Outpatient Psych. Drugs - International Action

 

 

ALERT: Your Mind & Freedom - 7 Nov. 2003

http://www.MindFreedom.org - please forward

 

THE RESISTANCE needs you!

 

Freedom Center & MindFreedom Unite

to Issue International Alert.

 

A Human Rights Action to STOP Forced

Psychiatric Drugs *Out* in the Community.

 

James Bower, 25, of Massachusetts, Resists

His Forced Outpatient Drugs: " I told them they

are ruining my life. They said I was paranoid. "

 

ACTION: How *you* can e-mail authorities

to protest forced outpatient psychiatric drugs.

 

by David Oaks, Director, MindFreedom

 

This one I take personally. Twenty seven

years ago, it was me getting forced injections

of the powerful psychiatric drug, Haldol,

when I lived in Massachusetts, USA.

 

When you do not want Haldol, a forced

injection is torture, plain and simple.

 

Torture.

 

Today, the forced drugging common inside of

institutions has climbed over the walls and

is now out in our communities. Citizens in the

USA & parts of the world, living peacefully at home,

are now court ordered to take powerful psychiatric

drugs against their will. Typically these are

" neuroleptic drugs " that can cause structural

brain damage and even kill.

 

In the short run, torture works. But in the

long run, the human spirit can wake up, unite,

speak out, and -- sometimes -- make history.

 

That's what is happening in Massachusetts.

And YOU can be part of taking action, together.

 

Freedom Center is a group in western Mass.

run by psychiatric survivors. They are a sponsor

group in MindFreedom. Freedom Center has

investigated forced outpatient drugging there,

which is done using the perversely named

" Rogers Order " (named after a brave psychiatric

inmate, Ruby, who resisted forced drugging in court).

 

To start off, Freedom Center is supporting the

human rights of one particular individual who

is under a " Rogers Order, " by the name of

James Bower, 25 years old. You may read

his story in the Freedom Center alert BELOW.

 

Forced outpatient drugging is being done

internationally, more and more. But here is a

situation where a grassroots group is

uniting, investigating, organizing and calling

upon *you* to assist an international action.

 

Please take a moment to read the BELOW

alert from the Freedom Center, and take

the action they suggest.

 

At the least, please e-mail a civil note to

these two decision-makers about your

concern regarding forced outpatient

psychiatric drugging, and James Bower:

 

Liz.Sullivan

sstubbs

 

Please also FORWARD this alert

far and wide, on and off the Internet.

 

You may copy your e-mail and direct

any questions to: .

 

THE RESISTANCE to forced outpatient

psychiatric drugging is building. Be part of it.

 

HERE is the alert from the Freedom Center.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Fri, 07 Nov 2003 10:36:32 -0500

will hall

 

END SERVICENET FORCED DRUGGING!

 

Mindfreedom and Freedom Center

Human Rights Action Alert

 

James Bower is a 25 year old ServiceNet

residence client forced to take psychiatric

medication against his will, following a

court-directed " Rogers Order. " Every month

he is told he must take a hypodermic

injection of the powerful tranquilizer

Haldol; when he refuses, the police are

called and he is detained at Cooley

Dickinson hospital, where he is forced to

take the shot.

 

Haldol (haloperidol) is an old 1960s-era

drug similar to Thorazine that leaves James

with debilitating side effects such as

lethargy, sleeplessness, agitation, the

inability to think, and the risk of brain-

damaging tardive dyskinesia. According to

Amnesty International's 1976 book " Prisoners

of Conscience in the USSR, " Haldol was

routinely used to torture dissidents in

Soviet psychiatric prisons.

 

" This medication is awful and I want off

it, " James said. " I told them ServiceNet was

ruining my life because they were putting me

on this medication, and they said I was

paranoid. " Just days after we protested to

ServiceNet on his behalf, James was again

forced to take another Haldol shot. He came

to our Freedom Center meeting stiff and

withdrawn, visibly blunted by the drug.

 

James Bower is courageous for taking the

risk to speak out openly; most people on

Rogers' Orders the Freedom Center works with

are too oppressed, disempowered, frightened

of retaliation, and drugged to protest their

forced medication. James' emotional problems

-- which involved a conflict with his family

-- are not a crime. And there can never be a

justification for putting a mental health

client in a chemical straitjacket.

 

As the New York Association of Psychiatric

Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) said in

their Position on Outpatient Commitment:

 

" When all is said and done, we know what

works and what doesn't work. Force doesn't

work. Force is violence that encourages

helplessness, kills self- esteem and chases

away hope for recovery. Force, in one

fashion or another, has been the hallmark of

traditional mental health services since

their beginnings. Force doesn't lead to

healing...to recovery...or even to well-

being. Force is based on fear which is based

on stigma false ideas of what mental illness

is and who becomes psychiatrically disabled. "

 

ServiceNet CEO Susan Stubbs recently tried

to disavow the agency's responsibility for

its own clients, saying that forced

medication is the decision of the court.

However, if it wanted to ServiceNet could

commit its resources and influence to help

end forced medication -- instead of

continuing to use powerful tranquilizers to

render people docile and easy to control.

 

Because ServiceNet is funded by state

Department of Mental Health (DMH) contracts,

it is accountable to the DMH for its actions

and vulnerable to DMH pressure. We're asking

everyone to telephone DMH Western Regional Elizabeth Sullivan: ask her to

press ServiceNet to commit necessary

resources to free James Bower and end the

chemical straitjacketing of clients. People

can also call or email CEO Susan Stubbs.

Going off medication should be done

carefully and with adequate alternative

supports in place, including consideration

of withdrawal effects.

 

We are not content with promises of further

meetings, procedures, and discussions. We

want a clear and unequivocal commitment from

ServiceNet management that forced medication

is wrong and they will act to stop it, and

that DMH will act to ensure that this

happens.

 

ACTION -- CIVIL MESSAGES:

 

TO:

 

DMH Regional Director Elizabeth Sullivan

 

PHONE (413) 587-6200 x 76295 or

E-MAIL Liz.Sullivan.

 

ServiceNet CEO Susan Stubbs

 

PHONE (413) 582-9501 or

(413) 585-1300 x 0 or

E-MAIL sstubbs.

 

Be polite, but do not be deterred by

bureaucratic evasiveness. Ask for a clear

commitment to free James Bower and end

forced medication.

 

More info on why everyone should oppose

forced treatment:

 

Robert Whitaker's Boston Globe essay:

http://freedomcenter.blogeye.com/whitaker_force.pdf

 

Bazelon Mental Health Law Center's position:

http://www.bazelon.org/issues/commitment/bazelonposition.htm

 

Washington Post essay:

http://www.narpa.org/

forced.treatment.doesn't.work.htm

 

NYAPRS position:

http://www.bazelon.org/issues/commitment/positionstatement.htm

 

Contact: Freedom Center email

info

 

phone (413) 582-9948

 

website http://www.freedom-center.org

 

More info on Freedom Center's ServiceNet

Campaign

 

http://www.freedom-center.org/info/

servicenetcampaign.html

 

--

 

Freedom Center

 

P.O. Box 623

 

Northampton, MA 01061

 

(413) 582-9948

 

Freedom Center works for human rights, true

informed consent, and holistic alternatives.

We are pro-choice, not anti-drug.

 

email info

 

website http://www.freedom-center.org

 

email discussion list

www.topica.com/lists/massfreedomcenter or

email massfreedomcenter-

 

~~~~

 

Forwarded by

MindFreedom Support Coalition International --

Uniting 100 grassroots groups for human rights.

http://www.MindFreedom.org

 

BE PART OF HISTORY....

 

Join/donate to MindFreedom

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join.shtml

--

 

David Oaks, Executive Director

MindFreedom Support Coalition International

454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB 11284

Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

 

http://www.mindfreedom.org

email: oaks fax: (541) 345-3737

phone: (541) 345-9106 toll free in USA: 1-877-MAD-PRIDE

 

MindFreedom Support Coalition International is an

independent non-profit uniting 100 sponsor groups

to win human rights & alternatives in mental health.

Accredited by the United Nations as a

Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with

Consultative Roster Status.

 

First they ignore you,

 

then they laugh at you,

 

then they fight you,

 

then you win.

 

Mohandas Gandhi (1941)

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

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